[c++] How to redirect cin and cout to files?

How can I redirect cin to in.txt and cout to out.txt?

This question is related to c++

The answer is


If your input file is in.txt, you can use freopen to set stdin file as in.txt

freopen("in.txt","r",stdin);

if you want to do the same with your output:

freopen("out.txt","w",stdout);

this will work for std::cin (if using c++), printf, etc...

This will also help you in debugging your code in clion, vscode


Just write

#include <cstdio>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    freopen("output.txt","w",stdout);
    cout<<"write in file";
    return 0;
}

Here is a short code snippet for shadowing cin/cout useful for programming contests:

#include <bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;

int main() {
    ifstream cin("input.txt");
    ofstream cout("output.txt");

    int a, b;   
    cin >> a >> b;
    cout << a + b << endl;
}

This gives additional benefit that plain fstreams are faster than synced stdio streams. But this works only for the scope of single function.

Global cin/cout redirect can be written as:

#include <bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;

void func() {
    int a, b;
    std::cin >> a >> b;
    std::cout << a + b << endl;
}

int main() {
    ifstream cin("input.txt");
    ofstream cout("output.txt");

    // optional performance optimizations    
    ios_base::sync_with_stdio(false);
    std::cin.tie(0);

    std::cin.rdbuf(cin.rdbuf());
    std::cout.rdbuf(cout.rdbuf());

    func();
}

Note that ios_base::sync_with_stdio also resets std::cin.rdbuf. So the order matters.

See also Significance of ios_base::sync_with_stdio(false); cin.tie(NULL);

Std io streams can also be easily shadowed for the scope of single file, which is useful for competitive programming:

#include <bits/stdc++.h>

using std::endl;

std::ifstream cin("input.txt");
std::ofstream cout("output.txt");

int a, b;

void read() {
    cin >> a >> b;
}

void write() {
    cout << a + b << endl;
}

int main() {
    read();
    write();
}

But in this case we have to pick std declarations one by one and avoid using namespace std; as it would give ambiguity error:

error: reference to 'cin' is ambiguous
     cin >> a >> b;
     ^
note: candidates are: 
std::ifstream cin
    ifstream cin("input.txt");
             ^
    In file test.cpp
std::istream std::cin
    extern istream cin;  /// Linked to standard input
                   ^

See also How do you properly use namespaces in C++?, Why is "using namespace std" considered bad practice? and How to resolve a name collision between a C++ namespace and a global function?


Try this to redirect cout to file.

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

int main()
{
    /** backup cout buffer and redirect to out.txt **/
    std::ofstream out("out.txt");

    auto *coutbuf = std::cout.rdbuf();
    std::cout.rdbuf(out.rdbuf());

    std::cout << "This will be redirected to file out.txt" << std::endl;

    /** reset cout buffer **/
    std::cout.rdbuf(coutbuf);

    std::cout << "This will be printed on console" << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

Read full article Use std::rdbuf to Redirect cin and cout


assuming your compiles prog name is x.exe and $ is the system shell or prompt

$ x <infile >outfile 

will take input from infile and will output to outfile .